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Has PTI been a success? Black, white or shade of gray?

It is a simple question: Has the Produce Traceability Initiative been a success? Why or why not?

The topic is timely for me since I've been talking to folks and putting together some coverage on the PTI this week. I'm curious what the "man on the street" view is of PTI. What has been accomplished so far and what more needs to be done?

Check out the PTI poll and discussion on the Fresh Produce Industry Discussion Group here.

Also, all who are going to Fruit Logistica keep us posted on what you see here.

I see several dozen have signed up for The Packer's Market social site in just a couple of days. I think it will a lively place in no time, and I've been doing a series of blog posts on my most relied upon web tools. Join here.

Fresh fruit prices increased 2.6 percent in December, and the fresh fruit index is up 5.5 percent from last year at this time, with apple prices up 13.3 percent, banana prices unchanged from the previous year, citrus fruit prices up 3.2 percent, and other fresh fruit prices up 5.7 percent. The fresh vegetable index increased 1.5 percent in December. Since last year at this time, fresh vegetable prices are down 1.2 percent, with potato prices down 7.4 percent, lettuce prices down 3.2 percent, tomato prices up 4.8 percent, and other fresh vegetable prices down 0.7 percent. Unseasonably warm weather and favorable growing conditions in 2012 resulted in prices and output for many vegetable crops that are in sharp contrast with prices and output for 2011.

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About the Author:

Tom Karst

Tom Karst is national editor for The Packer, covering issues of importance to the produce industry including immigration, farm policy and food safety.
He began his career with Vance Publishing Corp., The Packer's parent company, in 1984 as one of the founding editors of ProNet, a pioneering electronic news service for the produce industry. Tom has also served as markets editor for The Packer and editor of Global Produce magazine in his time at Vance Publishing, among other positions.
Tom is also the main author of Fresh Talk, www.tinyurl.com/freshtalkblog, an industry blog that has been active since November 2006.
Previous to Vance, Tom worked from 1982 to 1984 at Harris Electronic News, a farm videotext service based in Hutchinson, Kansas.
Tom has a bachelor’s degree in agricultural journalism from Kansas State University, Manhattan.
He can be reached at tkarst@thepacker.com and 913-438-0769. Find Tom's Twitter account at www.twitter.com/tckarst.